Dallas landed a polished young Spanish guard after a chaotic draft-night trade sequence, and his immediate comments suggest the Mavericks may not wait long to bring him over.
Sergio De Larrea will not forget this stretch of his life anytime soon.
He woke up in the early hours of the morning to find out he had been traded twice in the NBA Draft, landing with Dallas before he had even gotten out of bed. Hours later, he suited up for Valencia Basket and helped clinch a Spanish League championship.
Two life-changing moments, one calendar day, almost no sleep in between.
The draft chaos came first. De Larrea was technically selected 25th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers, had his rights immediately flipped to the New York Knicks and then was traded again to Dallas in a deal that sent Koa Peat and future second-round picks back to Los Angeles. By the time the dust settled, the 20-year-old guard belonged to the Mavericks before he had even taken the floor that night.
Then came the basketball, De Larrea helped Valencia Basket beat FC Barcelona 108-84 in Game 4 to clinch the Spanish League title. He finished with four points, one rebound and two assists in 15 minutes off the bench.
He spoke about the whirlwind stretch in a postgame interview translated from Spanish on DAZN. Asked how much sleep he got given the timing of the draft, De Larrea did not hide how exhausting it had all been.
“I slept until about 2 a.m., woke up and didn’t fall back asleep until around 5:30,” he said. “I did sleep for hours, but honestly, my body was exhausted.”
He explained that Dallas had called him at 6 a.m., but he was already asleep and could not answer, adding that the team respected his timeline and that the two sides would talk in the coming hours about next steps.
When asked directly about his future and the Mavericks, De Larrea did not hold back his excitement about the landing spot.
“When I was little, I was one of the Dallas kids,” he said. “I always liked it when Luka was in Dallas. And the truth is that when they traded for me the night before, for me it was something really cool.”
That comment lines up with what Marc Stein reported once the four-team trade became official. According to Stein and DLLS Sports, the predraft expectation around the league was that De Larrea would likely spend another season in Europe given his contract situation and development path. Now that he belongs to Dallas, those plans are being reworked entirely, including whether he plays Summer League this July.
De Larrea, 20, brings four years of professional experience in one of the toughest leagues outside the NBA, a level of polish that rarely shows up in a 20-year-old rookie. He is a 6-foot-6 guard who made the All-ACB First Team in 2025 and has represented Spain in international competition.
The path forward is still being determined, but his own words and the urgency from the front office suggest one thing clearly. Dallas wants him in a Mavericks uniform sooner rather than later, not stashed overseas for another year.
